This invention relates to wave energy converters (WECs) for converting energy in the waves on the surface of bodies of water to useful energy and, in particular, to the mooring or anchoring of multiple groups or arrays of WECs of the floating buoy type.
One known type of WEC (also referred to herein as a “buoy”), with which the present invention is primarily concerned, comprises a WEC having components (e.g., a float and a spar) which move relative to each other, or are driven into movement, in response to passing surface waves. The relative movement of the components is used for driving an energy transducer (also referred to herein as a power take off device (PTO) for generating useful energy. For retaining WECs in place (i.e., to limit their lateral movement), one practice is to connect each WEC to three anchors spaced around the WEC. However, a problem with this practice is that when many WECs are used for increasing the amount of generated power, the need for three anchors for each WEC (providing an anchor to WEC ratio of 3:1) is both very expensive and space consuming.
Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide a mooring arrangement where the ratio of anchors to WEC buoys is significantly decreased.
Another object of this invention is to ensure that the mooring anchors holding the WECs in place do not impede the relative motion of the components of the WECs which would interfere with their ability to generate useful energy.